Cableway

ABSTRACT

An improved cableway wherein the conventional traveling endless cable is omitted and the trolley, supported upon a pair of laterally spaced elevated cables anchored under tension, is motivated along the cables by driving the trolley support wheels adapted to roll upon the said elevated cables; the wheel rims are shaped to mate with the convolved periphery of the spiral wound elevated cables and magnetic means are provided to increase the frictional attraction of the drive wheels and their companion cable.

United States Patent 91 Bnchholz et al.

[22] Filed:

54 v CABLEWAY [76] Inventors: Hugh L. Buchholz, Rt. 3, Box 154- A, Centralia, Wash. 98531; Jerry L.

Hays, Rt. 2, Lebanon, Tenn. 37087 April 27, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 32,282

[52] U.S. Cl. ..l04/ll2, 105/78, 212/19, 104/165 [51] Int. Cl. ..B61b 7/18, B660 21/02 [58] Field of Search ..104/89,112,165,105/148, 105/150, 77, 78; 212/19, 124, 125; 73/230.5

[56] References Cited 7 UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,796,875 3/1931 Radt ..74/230.5 3,302,932 2/1967 1 579,147 3/1897 1,730,944 l0/ 1929 Peterson et al ..105/78 [451 Jan. '1 1973 2,987,009 6/1961 Nixon ..l04/l 12 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS Primary Examiner-Drayton E. Hoffman Assistant Examiner-Robert Saifer Att0rneyl(eith S. Bergman [57] ABSTRACT An improved cableway wherein the conventional traveling endless cable is omitted and the trolley, supported upon a pair of laterally spaced elevated cables anchoredunder tension, is motivated along the cables by driving the trolley support wheels adapted to roll upon the said elevated cables; the wheel rims are shaped to mate with the convolved periphery of the spiral wound elevated cables and magnetic means are provided to increase the frictional attraction of the drive wheels and their companion cable.

7 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures 3/1967 Switzerland ..104/1 l2 PATENTEDJAHIB I975 3.710.726

SHEET 2 OF 3 25 g? 2 24 23 23 23 I n 23 23 29 23 29 JERRY L. HAYS and INVENTOR.

HUGH L. BUCHHOLZ,

PATENTEDJAH 1 6 I975 3.710.726

SHEET 3 OF 3' JERRY L. HAYS and HUGH L. BUCHHOLZ; INVENTORS- CABLEWAY heavy equipment and large construction fields. Hereto- I fore, they generally comprised a main support cable, sometimes termed a main gut of say, a 3% inch spiral wound cable fixed at its ends to the upper reaches of a pair of horizontally spaced towers. Slack take-up means, for example, a block and tackle arrangement, are provided to tauten the main gut as needed. A trolley, suspended from the main gut on sheave wheels is propelled from end to end of the cable by a second, usually 1% inch spiral wound cable, which may be driven from a ground station over sheaves journaled on the towers and fixed to the trolley.

This invention provides for the desired manual control of a mobilized trolley carried by elevated cables, and omits the need for the endless" driving cable and the slack carriers normally associated therewith.

It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide a cableway for use in heavy construction and the like which provides a manually controlled cable supported trolley for movement from end to end of the cables and utilizes traction drive between the supporting wheels and the cables to mobilize the trolley, thus precluding the need for a conventional endless and its associated slack carriers.

A further object of the invention lies in the provision, in a trolley of the foregoing description, of unique drive wheels having a rim portion shaped to mate with the convolved periphery of the said cables and having magnetic forces drawing the wheels and cables toward each other to facilitate and increase the traction therebetween.

for every use of which it is now known or subsequently discovered to be susceptible.

Other advantages and features of this invention will become apparent from the more detailed description following in which like reference numerals are employed to designate similar parts in the accompanying drawings. Having reference now to the several views of the drawings forming an integral part of this specification:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a cableway embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged elevational view of a cable supported trolley;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the trolley of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a vertical section as at line 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a lateral elevation taken on the plane indicated by line 5-5 of FIG. 2;

Yet a further object is to interconnect the several f wheels on each side of the trolley with eccentrically pivoted side rods and thereby effect coincident rotation so that in the event a wheel mayv encounter a slippery spot, the driving torque will be distributed among the remaining interconnected wheels and not lost by the slipping wheel.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent and meaningful during the course of the following specification when considered in association with the accompanying drawings wherein a preferred form of the invention is graphically illustrated. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are illustrative only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. It should also be understood that various changes in construction may be resorted to in the course of manufacture without in any way departing from the spirit of the invention which is to be understood only in accordance with the appended claims. Furthermore, it is to be understood that while the invention is described in one particular association, it is not our intention to unnecessarily limit the applicability of the invention, but we desire to reserve to ourselves the claimed invention FIG. 6 is a bottom view as at line 6-6 of FIG. 2 looking upwardly;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of one trolley wheel and its companion cable; and

FIG. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary section as at line 8-8 ofFIG.7.

With reference to the drawings in greater detail, the numerals 10 and l 1 indicate spaced towers constituting support means or anchor points for the ends of the laterally spaced substantially horizontal cables 12-12 which are preferably spirally wound wire rope thus presenting a convolved irregular peripheral face 13 as is well known. The tower 10 may be pivotally mounted upon its base 14 and carry a floating weight 15, the purpose of which will be described in due course. Tower.

11 may be mounted upon trucks 16-16 movable along arcuate rails 17-17 by conventional power means carried thereby and enclosed in housing 18; thus increasing the range of the cableway.

The laterally spaced parallel cables 12-12 are tensioned between the upper portions of the towers l0 and l 1 and may include block and tackle or other type tautening means 19. A service car 20 may also be mobilized on the cables 12-12. 1

Supported upon the cables 12-12 is a trolley 21 which has a frame 22 which issupported by a plurality of trucks 23-23. The two central trucks 23 carry an electric motor 24 which is interconnected to drive the sheaves or wheels 25-25 through the worm-gear or other power transmissions 26. The controls for starting, stopping and reversing the motors 24 may be contained in a housing 27 carried by one truck 23 and, if desired, may be manually operated from a ground station 28 by conventional radio control device (not shown).

At its opposite ends, the trolley 21 has other supporting trucks 23 having idler sheave wheels 29-29 rolling upon the cables 12-12 and these end trucks support insulated idler wheels 30-30 which retain a power cable 31 in continued electrical contact with a wiper shoe contact 32 providing operating electrical power to the trolley motors 24. It will be understood that the power cable 31 will have as may conductors as necessary to fulfill its function and the wiper shoe 32 is constructed to correlate therewith.

The power cable 31 is tensioned by means of the weight 15 being suspended by a rope 33 connected to the weight. Passing over a tower support sheave 34 and through an insulator 35 is connected to the power cable 31.

It should also be noted that the controls for motors 24 may be mounted on the ground instead of on the trolley 21 as at 35 at the base of tower 10.

The trolley 21 also includes an underslung frame 40 which carries winch drums 41 and 42 designed to raise and lower the load block 43 through manipulation of cables 4444.

Drive wheels 2525 on each of the two center trucks are interconnected by eccentrically pivoted side rods 36 to distribute the driving forces so that the wheels are less apt to slip on the cables l212. Moreover, the wheels each include a pair of non-magnetic annular disc-like members 3737 which secure a magnetic rim 38 having an irregular face 39 adapted to mate with the convolved periphery 13 of its respective cable 12. A magnetic flux may be introduced electrically or permanently to increase the frictional engagement between the drive wheels 2525 and the cables 12-12.

It is to be understood that the electrical circuitry required to operate the several winch drums 41 and 42, in addition to the mobilizing motors 24 according to manual selection, are all within the skill of a licensed electrician and for convenience, details are omitted from the drawings to avoid clutter and obscuration of the salient features.

It is further to be noted from the foregoing that in certain projects, particularly in the construction of bridges and similar structures, two carriages of our invention may be mounted on a single pair ofguts, one on each end for lighter lifts and the two joined or coupled together to act as a unit for heavier lifts. This type of operation has not been possible with cable activated devices of the prior art.

We claim:

1. A cableway comprising:

a pair of laterally spaced parallel elevated cables having their ends anchored with the cables in tension said cables being spiral wound to present a convolved periphery;

a trolley having plural wheels on each side rolling upon said cables and supported thereby, said wheels having a rim adapted to mate with said convolved periphery of said cables, whereby to preclude slippage between said wheels and said cables;

means interconnecting at least some of the wheels on each side to effect coincident rotation, whereby slippage of any of the interconnected wheels, with respect to the cable, is precluded to the extent of engagement of all of the interconnected wheels on each side; I

power means carried by said trolley;

means for rotating said wheels by said power means alternately in opposed directions according to manual selection, whereby to move said trolley from end to end of said cables; and magnetic means for effecting mutual attraction of each driven wheel and its mating cable comprising said wheels having a rim formed of material having magnetic properties and larger substantially parallel discs of non-magnetic material carrying said rims concentric to their rotational axes.

2. The inyention accordingl to claim 1, wherein: an electrical power cable aving plural conductors lS electrically connected to said power means at one end and to a manually controlled source of electrical power at its opposed end, removed from said trolley.

3. The invention according to claim 2, herein:

a manually manipulated remote switching means controlling said electrical power to said trolley is provided.

4. The invention according to claim 1, wherein:

said power means comprises;

an electrically powered motor operatively connected to at least some wheels on each side of said trolley;

an electrical power cable supported in spaced substantially parallel relationship to said elevated cables and having plural conductors comprising an electrical circuit;

wiping-contact shoes carried by said trolley and each in rubbing contact with one conductor of said electrical power cable and operatively connected to said motor; and

a manually controlled source of electrical power energizing said power cable to facilitate operation of said trolley according to manual selection.

5. The invention according to claim 4, wherein:

said elevated cables are spiral wound and present a convolved periphery;

said wheels have a rim adapted to mate with said convolved periphery;

said rim being formed of material having magnetic properties;

substantially parallel discsof non-magnetic materials carrying said rims concentric to'their rotational axes; and

means imparting magnetic attraction between each said wheel rim and its mating cable.

6. The invention according to claim 5, wherein:

eccentrically pivoted side rods interconnect at least some wheels on each side of said trolley, whereby to effect coincident rotation of the wheels so interconnected.

7. The invention of claim 1 wherein more than one trolley is supported upon the spaced parallel elevated cables for simultaneous unrelated hoisting.

t i l 

1. A cableway comprising: a pair of laterally spaced parallel elevated cables having their ends anchored with the cables in tension said cables being spiral wound to present a convolved periphery; a trolley having plural wheels on each side rolling upon said cables and supported thereby, said wheels having a rim adapted to mate with said convolved periphery of said cables, whereby to preclude slippage between said wheels and said cables; means interconnecting at least some of the wheels on each side to effect coincident rotation, whereby slippage of any of the interconnected wheels, with respect to the cable, is precluded to the extent of engagement of all of the interconnected wheels on each side; power means carried by said trolley; means for rotating said wheels by said power means alternately in opposed directions according to manual selection, whereby to move said trolley from end to end of said cables; and magnetic means for effecting mutual attraction of each driven wheel and its mating cable comprising said wheels having a rim formed of material having magnetic properties and larger substantially parallel discs of non-magnetic material carrying said rims concentric to their rotational axes.
 2. The invention according to claim 1, wherein: an electrical power cable having plural conductors is electrically connected to said power means at one end and to a manually controlled source of electrical power at its opposed end, removed from said trolley.
 3. The invention according to claim 2, herein: a manually manipulated remote switching means controlling said electrical power to said trolley is provided.
 4. The invention according to claim 1, wherein: said power means comprises; an electrically powered motor operatively connected to at least some wheels on each side of said trolley; an electrical power cable supported in spaced substantially parallel relationship to said elevated cables and having plural conductors comprising an electrical circuit; wiping-contact shoes carried by said trolley and each in rubbing contact with one conductor of said electrical power cable and operatively connected to said motor; and a manually controlled source of electrical power energizing said power cable to facilitate operation of said trolley according to manual selection.
 5. The invention according to claim 4, wherein: said elevated cables are spiral wound and present a convolved periphery; said wheels have a rim adapted to mate with said convolved periphery; said rim being formed of material having magnetic properties; substantially parallel discs of non-magnetic materials carrying said rims concentric to their rotational axes; and means imparting magnetic attraction between each said wheel rim and its mating cable.
 6. The invention according to claim 5, wherein: eccentrically pivoted side rods interconnect at least some wheels on each side of said trolley, whereby to effect coincident rotation of the wheels so interconnected.
 7. The invention of claim 1 wherein more than one trolley is supported upon the spaced parallel elevated cables for simultaneous unrelated hoisting. 